The Cursed Glasses
by 16bit
Summary: "So, I've been on this adventure for a while now. I've travelled the world with a priest, an army Major, and a genetic experiment. But I still don't know what the bloody hell these glasses are meant to do!" - Multi-song adventure!
1. Introduction :: Finding the Glasses

**AN: Oh, hello! This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic longer than a oneshot. My writing style will probably improve as this moves along... hopefully. I'm pretty rusty right now. I love love love constructive criticism, so feel free to tear my story apart!**

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"Good morning, Rin," Mom said as I walked into the kitchen, stretching "Did you sleep well?"

"As always," I responded, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the bench, flicking mom's back slightly. "Hey, I'm gonna go down to the Spit today, okay?" I said, flopping onto the couch. The main room in our apartment was one big room – a kitchen, dining room and living room combined. It made it much easier to eat and watch TV.  
"Ohh, Rin," Mom sighed "We live right across from a beach. Can't you go there? I get worried when you're down at the Spit."  
"Relax, Mom," I said, half laughing "It's not like anyone's gonna murder me or anything. I just want to go rock climbing there, yeesh."  
"I hope you don't swim over the channel like your surfer friends do,"  
"No, Mom," I sighed. Moms could be so overprotective, and really, I wasn't stupid enough to do that. The channel was always full of idiots in powerboats – it was amazing the guys on surfboards didn't get hit.

I lazily flicked through channels, but all that was on was the morning news or cartoons – and no good cartoons, mind you. I'd be fine with Looney Tunes or something, really, but it's not like I told anyone that. Deciding to settle on some poorly-animated piece of trash the name of which I didn't catch, I continued munching on my apple.  
"Rin, why can't you go shopping or something with your friends, instead?"  
"Mom, really, it's fine. Besides, the shopping district is more like a red light district. The whole damn thing. How do you make an entire suburb into a red-light district? It's amazing; there are so many whores and nightclubs there. Even the McDonalds is dangerous. You know something's wrong when you go to McDonalds and you're at risk of getting in a brawl for just being there." By this point I was basically talking to myself, not really caring what Mom or the TV was saying. I'd finished my apple enough (I never liked the bit close to the core, anyway), and tossed it in the bin.

Forcing myself up off the couch with a most unattractive grunting noise, I shuffled off down the tiny hallway and into my room. Let's see, for the Spit… I suppose my bikini top and short-shorts would do just fine for that. I changed quickly, nearly tripping over the vast assortment of junk on my floor in the process. Briefly, I checked myself out in the mirror (we're all a little vain, aren't we?), before grabbing my white ribbon and tying it around my head in the shape of bunny ears. Not bad, I suppose – it wasn't like I was huge or anything.  
"Don't hurt yourself, Rin," Mom said, as I opened the door to our apartment.  
"Yes, Mom," I rolled my eyes and sighed, quickly ducking back into out apartment to give her a kiss on the cheek, before bounding down the outside stairs, tripping and stumbling as I went. I never really was good at this whole 'running' business.

At the base of the stares was a tiny bike rack, to which my old, rusty, beaten-up bike was chained to. It was amazing nobody had stolen it yet, but really, who wants a rusty bike? Fiddling with the numbers on the chain, I eventually unlocked my bike, and turned it hastily to face the road. Jumping on it and pushing the pedals a few times to loosen them up, I sped off down the road, and began my usual journey towards the Spit.

After about half an hour's worth of thoroughly exhaustive riding, I'd finally reached my destination. There weren't too many people out this weekend, surprisingly, but that didn't mean I was just gonna dump my bike anywhere and hope it didn't get stolen. So, hopping off at the edge of the beach, I walked my bike up to the base of the rocks and rested against a rock that, at the right angle, looked like a distorted face. Heh. Things with faces. I grunted a little and stretched out my arms, my elbows clunking quite loudly, causing me to cringe. Right, time to start climbing! I wandered a little to find a good starting point, and began climbing on the other side of the rock with a face.

I was only a few meters up when I noticed a glint coming from a crack between some rocks. I had good footing, and nobody else was around, so investigating couldn't hurt, right? Reaching over to the glint with my left hand, I fumbled around in the crack for a minute before grabbing something cool and smooth. Moving my hand slowly, in case it was something valuable, I pulled out… a pair of glasses? The frames were gold, and had some weird metal wing-like things attached to the outward side of each frame. They were really quite pretty, I had to admit – maybe trying them on would make me look like a badass? Trying halfheartedly to put the glasses on, they eventually fit – at the cost of making my vision blur. It felt like they were stabbing into my head, so foolishly, I let go of the rocks to try and pry the glasses off of my face. After a few seconds, I fell to the ground with a dull thud, and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1 :: The Eccentric Major

**AN: Woah, an update the day after this gets published? Well, I'm on summer vacation and have nothing else to do, so I'm writing like a boss!**  
**Also, yotsuba: A Spit is a landform. It's kind of like a very long rock wall poking out of a beach and into the ocean.**

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"Hey, uh, kid, I think you should wake up now…" A faint voice told me as my upper body was shaken. I made a slight mumbling noise which may or may not have sounded like 'go away' as I tried my best to sit up, but someone pushed me back down. "You just woke up. Just let yourself lie there for a bit." The same voice from just before ordered. Yeah, sure, whatever you strange voice. Never mind the fact that I might have a concussion or something, oh no, just let me lie here. Whatever. I reached up to rub my eyes, but ended up punching some kind of impenetrable layer that was around my eye.

"Why did you punch your glasses?" The voice asked. They'd only said three things to me, but I was already getting incredibly annoyed with them. I slowly blinked my eyes open, trying to get used to the haziness and the apparent slight blue tint that had suddenly taken over the world. Why blue, of all colors? "Oh, good, you're finally awake." The voice decided to speak up again, its source leaning over me. Through the blur these glasses gave to the world, I could see that the voice had come from a girl… probably in her early twenties? She'd dyed her hair some obnoxiously bright green color, was decked out in (what looked like) camouflage, and had ridiculous pink goggles. She looked like one of the street fashion kids, in a weird way.

I fumbled around and made weird groping gestures with my hands for a few minutes, before finally managing to force myself up into a sitting position. Okay, so I had been lying at the top of a very very small flight of steps leading up to some kinda churchy temple building thing. Oh, wonder-

Wait.

I had been on a beach before I passed out, hadn't I? So why was I here, on this building I'd never seen before? Had I been kidnapped? No, Rin, you twit, calm yourself. You couldn't have been kidnapped, else they'd have tied you up or something. Just find out where you are; it could be one of the back suburbs. But why would I have ended up in a back suburb? Doesn't matter, I just had to find out. "So, uh," I began, turning to face the girl "Where am I? And who are you, anyway? When did I get here?"

"Jeez, you ask a lot of questions," The girl said, grinning "You're on one of the islands of Entropica. My name is Megpoid, but I'd prefer it if you called me Meg. I'm an army Major. I'm not quite sure when you got here, but you were sleeping in the town square at dawn when I got here."  
"So I wasn't on a beach, then?" How the hell would I get from a beach to a town square on an island that wasn't even real?  
"Umm, nope. The closest beach is about two miles thattaway," Meg said, pointing off to her right. "Why, didja go to sleep on the beach? 'Cause that would explain your clothes."  
"… Yeah, sure," I groaned "Let's say I fell asleep on the beach. Whatever."

Meg and I both fell silent for a very long time after this, just sitting at the top of the steps watching the town wake up. Slowly, a small trickle of people moved around what I assumed to be the town square in front of us. General stores and bakeries opened, kids with backpacks walked off on a path to our left, to where the school probably was. It was nice and peaceful I suppose, but a small part of me felt that it was small and stifling – I mean, I am a city kid. This was a tiny town of, like… two hundred? What did they do for fun here? Probably just talked and ate, maybe they sewed or something, or went to the beach. How boring; it would be so much better if they had arcades and stuff.

In an attempt to break up the silence after what was at least half an hour of doing nothing, I decided to talk to Meg some more. "So…" I half-mumbled, hoping it'd be enough to catch her attention "What are you doing here, anyway?"  
"I'm here to see the priest," She replied, continuing to stare out at the town square "He's the only one my boss will listen to, but I guess he's out of town right now.""Your boss? Where do you wo- oh, wait, you said you were a Major, right? So then your boss would be a…"  
"General."  
"Right, right. I don't really know that sort of thing. Um, what's it like in the army?"  
"Pretty boring," Meg droned, finally looking at me "I haven't been up to a whole lot lately, and the General's totally chewing me out for it. Not my fault there's nothing to do." I simply nodded in agreement, not really knowing what to say. How can a kid even have any idea of what it's like to be in the army?

"Well, since you've asked me lots of questions, I feel I should ask you one. Who'd you commission those glasses from? They're such an amazing replica of the Cursed Glasses" Meg asked, tilting her head a little in an attempt to look curious (when really, it made her look quite stupid). "I mean, they're so pretty and detailed!"  
"I'm… not really sure what you mean, or what the Cursed Glasses are." I responded, staring at Meg. Commissioned? I didn't ask for these, I found them!  
"Going by the detail, they must have been made by someone from Techlogica." Meg continued, completely ignoring the fact that I was clueless about what she was saying "Did you get them as a gift, then?" Meg leaned forward and reached up to touch the side of the glasses. Yeah, you know, just ignore my personal space. Not that I care.  
"I found these," I stated, glaring at Meg in my vain attempt to get her out of my space "I was going rock-climbing at the beach and found these in a gap between the rocks."

Meg looked at me awkwardly, as if to say 'I know you're lying'. "So, you just… found them? Can I try them on, if you don't mind?" I rolled my eyes and sighed. Meg may be an army Major, but she was much more like a persistent child.  
"If you must," I said, sighing, reaching up to take the glasses off my face… only to find that I couldn't. I pulled and tugged and poked and prodded, but nothing would wake them come off! It was like they were cemented to my face! Meg was watching me struggle, occasionally reaching forward to try and help but retracting her hand just as quickly. After what felt like forever, I gave up and slouched over. Great. Now these glasses were stuck to my face.

"You know," Meg spoke up after a few minutes "If those glasses won't come off… they must be real."  
"What does that matter?" I snapped "Why does it matter if they're real or not?"  
"Because… that means you're the Valiant." After Meg spoke, she sat there for a few moments, seemingly in deep thought. "You're the Valiant!" She suddenly shouted, grabbing my hands and dragging me to stand up "You're the Valiant! You're the Valiant!"  
"Yes, I know, you ju-"  
"I'm so happy that's you're back! We're going to war! The Valiant's back; we're going to war!" Meg sang, dancing around in circles at the top of the steps, dragging me along with her. The Valiant? Going to war? Did she mean _actual war_?

"Oi, Meg!" A male voice shouted between her bouts of happy singing "What's this about the Valiant?"

Somehow, I didn't think I would be going home anytime soon.


	3. Chapter 2 :: The Irritable Priest

**AN: Blaaaargh. Sorry for taking so long with this. A whole bunch of other ideas kind of attacked me. This chapter is really terrible, but I promise once the adventure begins it will get better!**

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"Gakupo!" Meg turned violently once she picked up the voice, letting go of me, quickly tumbling down the stairs and crashing into its source – which was, as far as I could tell, someone with very long purple hair. Jeez, did everyone here dye their hair some stupid color? What was next, pink? Meg and the person who she'd run into had somehow gotten themselves into a tangled heap. As time went on, it was a lot harder to believe that Meg really was a Major. I'd hate to be around in wartime, really, if she was protecting my ass. Meg and… Gakupo, was it? had finally gotten themselves untangled, thank god, and Meg was angry about something.

"And just where were you last night, hmm?" She asked loud enough for me to hear from the top of the stairs "I bet you had fun last night, yeah? What are those marks on your neck?" Meg was leaning up, trying to get up in the guy's face. He simply shook his head, shrugged, and said something I couldn't pick up – so, being the nosy little shit that I am, I jumped down the steps and walked up next to Meg. "You're a priest, Gakupo, and you go out to fraternize with whores! What if the General knew, or the people in the village?"  
"Meg, please stop jumping the gun," Gakupo groaned, rolling his eyes "I was in the next town over to give a sermon, okay? The bites on my neck are mosquito bites."  
"Suuuuuure they are," Meg rolled her eyes back at Gakupo, before folding her arms and turning away.

Gakupo mumbled something under his breath, before sighing and turning to me. His gaze lingered on me for a few seconds, before a crazy grin started spreading across his face. "Are you really the Valiant?" He whispered. What was the bloody point in asking that? I don't know if I'm a 'Valiant' or not, whatever that was. Meg had thought that I was this 'Valiant' thing because I couldn't take the glasses off, which was a stupid reason in my opinion. For lack of a better answer, I simply shrugged at Gakupo, which made him look rather disappointed.

"Take off the glasses." Gakupo ordered after a few minutes of silence.  
"Idiot!" Meg spat, turning back to face Gakupo "I said she was the Valiant, didn't I? That means she can't take off the glasses! God, you're so incompetent!" Meg was scowling and pouting like a stubborn child. No way, no way could she be a Major at this point. Majors didn't act like this, did they? Gakupo obviously shared similar sentiments, glaring at her for a few moments before slapping her upside the head.  
"You're being a brat, Meg. If this girl really is the Valiant like you claim, you'd act how you should around someone of such a high rank."  
"Pfft, whatever, y'old fogey. The Valiant's a kid this time around. Like she cares about rules and formality. Hell, she's got amnesia!"  
"Amnesia?" Gakupo looked at me, curious. There's no way either of them could think I had amnesia, could they…?

"I haven't got amnesia," I half-mumbled, twirling a strand of my fringe and shuffling from foot to foot "I'm just not from here."  
"So where are you from, then?" Meg asked "You mentioned being on a beach, so you're either from here or Geologica, but how you'd get from Geologica to here is beyond me…" She zoned out and her eyes became unfocused as she seemed to think, though as far as I knew, she could have zoned out and was thinking about puppies. Or shooting something.  
"But that's not a real country!" I spat desperately "Geologica, Entropica… they're not real, those countries don't exist where I'm from!"  
"So what countries exist where you come from, then?" Gakupo asked, leaning in and forcing me to look up at him  
"Uhh," I stuttered, trying my damndest not to draw a blank "America, Australia, England, Japan…" The two just stared at me as I trailed off. After about a minute's silence, Meg slowly began to raise one eyebrow and mouthed something I couldn't make out.

"Well then, those are um, interesting names…" Meg trailed off, still staring at me "Anyway, Gakupo! We should set off if we want to make it to the port in time!"  
"We…?" Gakupo asked, leaning back a little and folding his arms  
"Well, yeah, why else would I be here? The General wants to see you!"  
"You mean you want me to see the General, right? What are you wasting the army's budget on this time?"  
"No, no, she really wants to see you! I promise!"  
Gakupo rolled his eyes "Fine, then," he sighed, turning to me "So have you ever been on an airship?"  
"An… airship? Like a plane?"  
"No, like an airship. As in, a ship in the air. Jeez, you haven't got airships where you come from?"  
"Obviously not…" I grumbled, slouching over but keeping my stare concentrated on Gakupo.

"Hey you two! Enough dawdling! Come on, come on, at this rate we'll miss the ship!" Meg nagged, waving her hands in front of our faces. Before we could react, she'd already turned around and sped off down a path to my left. Gakupo and I stared for a few seconds, dumbfounded, before breaking off full tilt in a desperate attempt to catch up to the incompetent Major. I swore I could hear Gakupo mumble curses under his breath, but with him being a priest, it probably wasn't a good idea to bring it up. After about three minutes I gave up and collapsed on the side of the path in a way that would have looked comedic if you were anyone but me. Groaning, I did my best to support myself on my forearms to see what had happened to Gakupo. Turns out he'd caught up with Meg, and from what I could tell, was giving her the chewing out of a lifetime. After a few minutes of his nagging and Meg sinking to the ground in defeat, Gakupo motioned (and by motioned I mean flailed around like a dork), for me to get up and follow him. There was no choice in the matter, really. I had to go.

And so, I struggled to my feet, and began half-running towards the priest and the Major. At the time I figured it couldn't be that bad – going to an army base even seemed kind of cool!

Unfortunately, foresight isn't 20/20. Not even with these stupid glasses.


End file.
